Andersson 1911 a New Leptodactylus and a New Nototrema From Brazil

8/22/2019 Andersson 1911 a New Leptodactylus and a New Nototrema From Brazil

1/9

AUKIV FR ZOOLOGI.BAND 7. N:o 17.

A new Leptodactyliis aiul a iiew Nototrcuh*ifrom Brazil.

ByLARS GABRIEL ANDERSSONWith 2 Plates and 1 Figurc in the Text.

Commnnicatod May lOth by Hj. Thel and E. Lnnberg.

Lepto(lactylus bufo n. sp.Plate 1.

Habit very stout. Tongue very broad, somewhat broaderthan long, circular, not nicked behind. Vomerine teeth intwo arched series behind the large choanse; a distinct trans-verse ridge on each side of the palate between the vomerineteeth and the margin of the jaw. Snout rounded, sHghtlyprominent, 1 -j-s the largest diameter of the orbit; nostrilhalf-way between the eye and the tip of the snout ; no can-thus rostrah's. Interorbital space a h*ttle narrower than theuipper eye-lid. Tympanum nearly circular, Vs the width ofthe orbit. Fingers moderate, free; the first much Jonger thansecond; on the first finger the tip is broad and rounded, onthe others it is pointed; a spurhke tubercle on the inner sideof the first finger. Toes long, not fringed, but with a lowdermal ridge along the sides, as in some other large Lepto-dactylus-sipecimens; a rudiment of web at the bases; subarti-cular tubercles feeble, no outer metatarsal tubercle, an inneroval, not very prominent. The measurement of the lengthof tibia, marked off along the body forwards from the knee,

Arkiv fur zoologi. Band 7. ^:o 17. 1


2/9

2 AKIV FR ZOOLOGI. BAND 1, N:0 17.reaches between tlie nostril and the tip of the snout.^ Skinon the back, on the sides, and on the upper parts of thehind limbs tuLercular ; on the back and on the hind limbthe tubercles are small and scattered, on the sides large andpartly fused together in irregular large warts. On each sideof the back runs a narrow but distinct glandular fold frombehind the eye to the outer end of the sacral vertebra; tracesof such folds are also to be seen on the sides. The upperparts of the head and of the fre limbs, and the whole under-side are perfectly smooth.

Brownish grey above with small black dts, especiallyon the tubercles and on the folds; the under surfaces of handand foot blackish brown. All other parts: the sides of thebody, the lips, the whole underside and concealed parts oflimbs brownish black with large irregular white spts; onthe belly, the under parts of thighs, and to some extent alsoon the sides, the white colour prevails, so that one may saythat they are white with a netAvork of blackish brown. Nocross- bars on the limbs. Tympanum greyish brown with abroad dark margin.

The specimen is a male (no external vocal sacs). 31ea-surements: Length from nose to vent 115 mm, length fromnose to hind margin of tympanum 42 mm., length of nose20,5 mm. Diameter of orbit 11 mm, diameter of tympanum8 mm; breadth of head at the angle of mouth 46 mm. Lengthof fre limb (along the posterior surface) 67 mm; length offemur 61 mm, length of tibia 58 mm, length of foot with4:th toe 87 mm.On account of the great size and the large tympanumthe species comes near to L. pentadactyhis Laur. but it differsdistinctly from this one especially by the quite different ap-pearence of the skin and by the colour. Nor can I find itidentical with any species with dorsal folds.

^ The usvial way of measuring the length of the hind limb in com-parison with that of the body: the hind limb being carried forwards alongthe body etc, is here, as I have also found in many other cases, ratherunsuitable, if one will not get the risk of breaking the tibia at tlie knee.I find it much better to mark off the length of the tibia with a pair ofcompasses, the limbs of the animal being pressed to the body in usualresting position as on the plate. It may not be difficult to place the limbsin this natural situation, and the measurement cannot then be taken inmore than one manuer, which is not always the case in the usual way ofmeasuring.


3/9

L. G. ANDERSSON; A NEW LEPTODACTYLUS, A NEW NOTOTREMA. 3The specimen is collected by Dr P. Dusen, at Ponta

Grosso, Paran, Brazil, and belongs to the collections of theR. Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

Nototrema fiilvorufa n. sp.Plate 2.

Tongue large, circular, nicked behind; vomerine teeth intwo short, sh*ghtly curved series close to each other and ona level with the hind margin of the rather large choanse.Head moderate; derm of head free from cranial ossification;snout rounded, longer than the diameter of eye; loreal regionfeebly concave; canthus rostralis distinct; interorbital spacetwice as broad as the upper eye-lid; nostril near the tip ofthe snout, its distance from the eye being as large as theorbital diameter. Tympanum half the diameter of eye; theanterior and lower part very distinct, the upper merging intothe skin. A fold above the tympanum; the postocular regionrather swollen.

Outer fingers with a very slight rudiment of web; firstfinger slightly longer than second ; the disks on the 3:tli and4:th fingers as large as the tympanum, those on the l:st and2:nd fingers considerably smaller. Toes halfwebbed; on the4:th toe the web is attached to the third distal joint, on theinner side at its base, on the outer side at its middle. Thedisks of toes as large as those of fingers; the three outerdisks are considerably larger than the two inner. An inneroval metatarsal tubercle, no outer. The measurement of thelength of tibia marked off along the body forwards from theknee, reaches the tip of the snout.

Skin granular, but the inner sides of the fre limb andof the hand and the concealed parts of the hind limb smooth.The upper parts of the head, the back, and the sides minu-tely granular; on the back and on the sides there are numer-ous larger round granules between the small ones. On theextremities the granules are much less prominent, but alsoon these there are two kinds: numerous small and scatteredlarger ones. The chin, belly, and under parts of thighscoarsely granular.

^ See above, the footnote on p. 2,


4/9

4 ARKIV FR ZOOLOGI. BAND 7. N:0 17.The colour in spirit: Upper parts of head and body ochra-

ceous brown with dark shades, under parts uniform reddishbrown; iegs ple yellow with broad distinct brown cross-bands, bordered with black.Measurements : Length from nose to vent 68 mm; lengthof nose 11 mm; diameter of orbit 7,5 mm; diameter of tym-panum 3,5 mm; greatest breadth of head 24 mm; smallestbreadth of interorbital space 10,5 mm; length of femur 33mm; length of tibia 35 mm; length of tarsus with 4:th toe48 mm.The specimen is captured near Santos, Prov. San Paulo,Brazil, by Mr Hjalmar Mosin 1874, and belongs to the col-lections of the R. Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

It is a female with small eggs in the ovary. Of thedorsal pouch, typical for the Nototrejna-iemales, there is ex-ternally only a distinct dermal fold, bordering a longitudinaloval area on the posterior third part of the back. No ope-ning to any cavity under the dorsal skin is to be seen, andif we did not know that a dorsal pouch is typical for thegenus Nototrema, we would not be able to suspect any such,though the very loose, vide, and at the sides plicated skinspeaks for a state of things that corresponds with other spe-cies. Cutting up the dorsal skin I also found a large widepouch, reaching as far as to the head, though now quiteempty. As usual it is enclosed by the dorsal skin and athin membrane, distinctly separated from the underlying dor-sal muscles and serving as floor in the pouch. Along theabove mentioned fold the membrane is connected with theskin, the cavity thus being a completely closed up room(figure le). In the bottom of the fold, where the skin evennow is very thin, at the breeding season the thickened edgeof the dorsal skin evidently loosens, the pouch getting anopening outwards (fig. 1 d); probably at the same time thelateral folds, bordering the area spken of above, grow to-wards each other, forming a kind of vestibulum to the largeinner pouch with a fissure-like outer opening between theedges. Afterwards when the young ones have left the pouch,the folds sink in again towards the sides, the vestibulumdisappears, and the opening to the inner pouch closes up,the free brder growing together with the skin which liesbehind. In other ways I at least cannot understand the


5/9

t:

er

L. G. ANDERSSON, A NEW LEPTODACTYLUS, A NEW NOTOTREMA. 5structure of the poucli in this specimen where certainly noexterir opening exists on tlie large interir room.

I). F. Weinland, the first one who has described thepouch, seems to me to be right regarding its origin. Heconsiders it to be a dermal invagination, whereby I think the upper leaf of the infolded skin grows together with theexternal dorsal skin (figure 1 a, b). When the pouch is not inuse, the two leaves grow together at the opening, separatingagain from each other at 3 ,the next laying of eggs.

In a paper, Die Brut-pjlege der schwaiizlosen Ba-trachier in Abhandl. Naturf . tGesellsoh. Halle Bd 22,1901, Messrs. Brndes andSchoenichen are of quiteanother thought regarding cthe origin and metamor-phosis of the pouch. Theyground their meaning onthe state of things in No-toirema pygmceum Boett- QGER, but Seem to beheve Figiire 1. The inner dorsal pouch bythat a similar Case exists Nototrema (schematic figures). a and hshow different stages of the supposed de-in other forms as WelL Ae- velopment of the pouch; c the pouch notcording to them the pouch "^ "^' ^ ^^^ P^"^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^'^''^should be formed in sucha way that a belt of thin skin arises on the median part ofthe back, gradually extending towards the sides, while atthe same time the dorsal skin rises itself in two longitudinallateral folds, gradually growing towards the middle wherethey melt together, leaving a small opening farthest back.In N. "pyqmceum this suture should open again along itswhole length, when the young-ones are ready to leave theirnursery, whereupon the pouch completely disappears, beingquite new-formed at the next breeding season.

This specimen shows that no resorbtion of the innerpouch has occurred, neither can it be any break in the me-dian line at least in the Nototrema-iovm^ in general, in whichnothing speaks of such an origin and metamorphosis asBrndes and Schoenichen suppose. I also find that Ga-


6/9

6 ARKIV FR ZOOLOGI. BAND 7. N:0 17.DOW in the Cambridge Natural History 1901 doubts sucli a breakeven in the Nototrema pygmceiim where, however, there is along fissure along the back. Without any examination of afemale of this form, preferably both with, and without eggsin the pouch, it is of course rather difficult to express anopinion on this matter and to iinderstand the relation be-tween this and the other species, but to judge by the figuresof Brndes and Schoenichen the pouch in N. pygmoeumseems to be identical with what Weinland names Beuteh,which he distinguishes from the inner pouch, die BHnd-scke. The whole pouch by N. "pygmoeum should then beonly what I here have named vestihulum. Also Weinlandsays that the two folds which brder the Beuteb> mayadhere together. By this way of explaining the pouch ofN. pygmceum its origin and metamorphsis, as it is describedby Brndes and Schoenichen, should be rather well in cor-respondence with the state of things in the other species, inwhich,. as I have tried to show with the help of this speci-men, the outer part of the pouch, the vestibulum, originatesfrom two low lateral dermal folds, which grow towards eachother, and disappear again, when the young-ones leave thepouch. The oval, by low dermal ridges bordered area whichin this and probably also in other species exist on the poste-rior part of the back, when the pouch is empty^, should then,if my opinion is right, reach ver the entire back in Noto-trema pygmceum. The outer cavity (vestibulum) which ori-ginates from it would then be sufficient for secreting theeggs, and there should not be any reason for an invaginationof the skin to an inner large pouch, as in other forms, wherethe vestibulum is small.

This new species as well as Leptodactyfus bvfo arekindly revised by Dr. G. A. Boulenger, wherefore I begto express to him my sincere gratitude.

^ See BouLENGER^s figure of N. longipes in Cat. Batr. Sal. Pl. 27.

Tryckt den 7 juli 191L

Uppsala 19n. Almqvist & Wiksells Boktrj-ckeri-A.-B.


7/9

ARKIV FR ZOOLOGI. Band 7. N:o 17. Pl. 1

A. Ekblom del. Cederquists Graf. A.-B., Sthlm.

Leptodactylus bufo n, sp. Tympanum and hind foot (all figures nat. size).


8/9


9/9

ARKIV FR ZOOLOGI. Band 7. N:o 17. Pl. 2.

I

,#

A. Ekblom del. Cederquists Graf. A.-B., Sthlm.Nototrema fulvorufa n. sp. (nat. size).

Documents

Andersson 1911 a New Leptodactylus and a New Nototrema From Brazil